The Red Sox dropped their third straight game Wednesday, with a 4-1 loss to the Athletics.
Eduardo Rodriguez went six, allowing four runs off seven hits, while striking out nine in the loss, as the Red Sox pitching has been solid in the skid despite the offensive struggles.
“He (Rodriguez) has some good stuff,” Xander Bogaerts said in regards to E-rod’s start. “He just missed a couple pitches.”
Bogaerts made a base-running mistake in the eighth, where he was on third, and went home on a ground ball. It was thrown on to first, and Athletics first baseman Matt Olson threw it home to deny Bogaerts’ scoring attempt.
“Trying to do too much in that situation,” said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. “He froze on the line drive, went back and saw the throw to first and he took off. The effort was great, but obviously, in that situation, second and third, you stay there. He’s such a good baserunner. He thought, getting the run right there, he had it. But it’s a gamble in that situation.”
The Red Sox have scored just four runs in the past three games, and have been outscored 11-4 in that time frame. Pitchers also have a 2.04 ERA against the Red Sox in those three games as well. The Red Sox lone run Wednesday came off of a bases loaded walk.
“We just have to do a better job as a team,” Bogaerts said. “We have to score early and often.”
The Red Sox hope to break the skid, as they face the Athletics in the rubber match of the series, with Garrett Richards on the mound.
“We’re in a slump right now as a team,” Bogaerts said in regards to the last three losses. “We have some guys that are getting there hits and some that aren’t. As I said the other day, it’s kind of hard to have nine guys clicking at the same time. We have to do a better job of putting the ball in play when there’s guys on base.”